The story
Founded by Donald Fisher and Doris F. Fisher in 1969, in San Francisco.1
In 1969, Don Fisher, a California commercial real estate broker specializing in retail store location, enlisted the help of his friend, Walter Haas Jr., President of Levi Strauss & Co. Fisher was inspired by the sudden success of 'The Tower of Shoes' in an old Quonset hut in a non-retail industrial area of Sacramento, California, that drew crowds by advertising that no matter what brand, style or size of shoes a woman could want it was at The Tower of Shoes. And knowing that even Macy's, the biggest Levi's customer, was constantly running out of the best selling Levi's sizes and colors, Fisher asked Haas to let him copy The Tower of Shoes' business model and apply it to Levi's products. Haas referred Fisher to Bud Robinson, his Director of Advertising, for what Haas assumed would be a quick refusal; but instead Robinson and Fisher carefully worked out a legal test plan for what was to become the Gap (named by Don's wife Doris Fisher). The name was a reference to the "generation gap".
Fisher agreed to stock only Levi's apparel in every style and size, all grouped by size, and Levi's guaranteed the Gap to be never out of stock by overnight replenishment from Levi's San Jose, California warehouse. And finally, Robinson offered to pay 50% of the Gap's radio advertising upfront and avoided antitrust laws by offering the same marketing package to any store that agreed to sell nothing but Levi's products.
Fisher opened the first Gap store near City College on Ocean Avenue in Ingleside, San Francisco on August 21, 1969; its only merchandise consisted of Levi's and LP records to attract teen customers.
In 1970, Gap opened its second store in San Jose. In 1971, Gap established its corporate headquarters in Burlingame, California with four employees. By 1973, the company had over 25 locations and had expanded into the East Coast market with a store in the Echelon Mall in Voorhees, New Jersey. In 1974, Gap began to sell private label merchandise.
In the 1990s, Gap assumed an upscale identity and revamped its inventory under the direction of Mickey Drexler. However, Drexler was removed from his position after 19 years in 2002 after over-expansion, a 29-month slump in sales, and tensions with the Fisher family. Drexler refused to sign a non-compete agreement and eventually became CEO of J. Crew. One month after his departure, merchandise that he had ordered was responsible for a strong rebound in sales. Robert J. Fisher recruited Paul Pressler as the new CEO; he was credited with closing under-performing locations and paying off debt. However, his focus groups failed to recover the company's leadership in its market.
In 2007, Gap announced that it would "focus [its] efforts on recruiting a chief executive officer who has deep retailing and merchandising experience ideally in apparel, understands the creative process and can effectively execute strategies in large, complex environments while maintaining strong financial discipline". That January, Pressler resigned after two disappointing holiday sales seasons and was succeeded by Robert J. Fisher on an interim basis. He began working with the company in 1980 and joined the board in 1990, and would later assume several senior executive positions, including president of Banana Republic and the Gap units. The board's search committee was led by Adrian Bellamy, chairman of The Body Shop International and included founder Donald Fisher. On February 2, Marka Hansen, the former head of the Banana Republic division, replaced Cynthia Harriss as the leader of the Gap division. The executive president for marketing and merchandising Jack Calhoun became interim president of Banana Republic.
In May, Old Navy laid off approximately 300 managers in lower volume locations to help streamline costs. That July, Glenn Murphy, previously CEO of Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada, was announced as the new CEO of Gap, Inc. New lead designers were also brought on board to help define a fashionable image, including Patrick Robinson for Gap Adult, Simon Kneen for Banana Republic, and Todd Oldham for Old Navy. Robinson was hired as chief designer in 2007, but was dismissed in May 2011 after sales failed to increase. However, he enjoyed commercial success in international markets.
In October 2007, BBC footage showed child labor in Gap factories in India. The company denied knowledge of the happenings; it subsequently removed and destroyed the single piece of clothing in question, a smock blouse, from a British store. Gap promised to investigate breaches in its ethical policy.
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In October 2011, Gap announced plans to close 189 US stores, nearly 21% of its total US stores, by the end of 2013; however, it also announced plans to expand its presence in China. The company announced it would open its first stores in Brazil in the Fall of 2013. In February 2014, Gap announced that it would raise the minimum wages for its 65,000 U.S. store employees to $9/hour in 2014 and $10/hour in 2015. In January 2015, Gap Inc. announced plans to close its subsidiary Piperlime in order to focus on its core brands. The first and only Piperlime store, based in SoHo, New York City, closed in April. In September 2018, Gap Inc. began publicizing Hill City, a men's athletic apparel brand that launched in October 2018.
In March 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think tank, accused at least 82 major brands, including Gap, of being connected to forced Uyghur labor in Xinjiang. In June 2020, Gap Inc. announced that it had made the decision to wind down its Hill City brand in the coming months. Weeks later, the company announced a collaboration with Kanye West's Yeezy brand: Yeezy Gap as part of a 10-year deal. However, West accused Gap of failing to honor terms of the deal and ended the partnership in September 2022. In August 2020, the company announced that it, alongside its Banana Republic brand, would close over 225 store locations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic response. Less than two months later, the company announced that the total number of stores to be closed by 2024 was 350. (220 Gap stores and 130 Banana Republic stores.) The original plan of the company was to close only 90 stores, however, it expanded the number as a consequence of the financial effects caused by the pandemic restrictions. Most of the stores closed were ones set in malls. In November 2020, Gap Inc. partnered with Afterpay. This collaboration was planned to improve the digital shopping experience.
In February 2021, Gap Inc. announced a $140 million investment to build an 850,000 square foot distribution center in Longview, Texas, because it forecasts that its online business will double over the next two years. The new center will be able to process one million packages per day once completed in 2022. In August 2021, Gap acquired Drapr, an online tech application where customers can create 3D Avatars and virtually try on clothing. In September 2021, Gap Inc. cut the ribbon for the $41.7 million facility expansion in Gallatin, TN. In addition to hiring 1,100 employees to meet the demands of market share growth and peak season, Gap partnered with AHS to implement an automated order fulfillment system.
In September 2022, the company announced it would end its partnership with Kanye West. Several days later, Gap announced it would cut some 500 corporate positions in its San Francisco and New York offices. The firm also cut corporate jobs in Asia. Gap announced that the layoffs were unrelated to the decision to end its partnership with West. Gap announced more layoffs in April 2023. Gap Inc. closed all stores in Russia in 2022 due to the unpopularity of the brand in Russia and due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In 2023, Gap launched a programme to support emerging designers in their early stages of development. The programme is sponsored by the company's internal initiative, Create With Audacity, providing space, tools and resources to develop talent. In partnership with ICON360, the non-profit arm of Harlem's Fashion Row Gap supports underrepresented Black designers in the industry, as well as fashion programmes at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In April 2023, Gap announced 500 layoffs. In 2023, Gap partnered with Cargill, GSK, WaterAid and the Water Resilience Coalition to launch the Women + Water Collaborative to improve access to clean water and sanitation in India, starting in the Krishna and Godavari River basins. In May 2024, Gap introduced its limited collection in partnership with Dôen, celebrating sisterhood.
On September 4, 2025, Gap announced its intentions to sell personal care products and cosmetics at its Old Navy stores.
In July 2026, Gap Inc. expanded its creator program to include eligible employees, allowing staff across its brands to participate in content creation and brand advocacy initiatives.
Management history
Donald Fisher was chairman of the board until 2004, playing a role in the ouster of then-CEO Millard Drexler in 2002, and remained on the board until his death in 2009. Fisher's wife and their son, Robert J. Fisher, are also on Gap's board of directors. Bob succeeded his father as chairman in 2004 and was CEO on an interim basis following the resignation of Paul Pressler in 2007, before being succeeded by Glenn K. Murphy up until 2014. From February 2015 to November 2019, Art Peck was CEO of Gap Inc., until he was replaced by Sonia Syngal in March 2020.
Syngal resigned in July 2022, with executive chairman Bob Martin as interim CEO. In February 2024, Gap appointed American fashion designer Zac Posen as Creative Director of Gap, and Chief Creative Officer for Old Navy.
From Wikipedia’s article on Gap Inc., shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.9